Google Goggles Translates Text

Google Goggles Translates Text

Google has today announced the launch of a brand new app which allows Android camera phones to identify and translate foreign languages.

This upgrade to the Google Goggles app allows for the visual recognition of other languages as well as translation.

Google have stated that this app could mean the end of tourists struggling in foreign countries with menus and street signs.

The application combines the high quality of images on the new smartphone with a web search. For some time this has meant that a user can take a photograph of a recognisable landmark and then discover what the landmark is. However the new "region of interest" box will now be added so that text may too be recognised and translated.

The software currently supports the following languages: English, German, Italian, French, and Spanish. However google have stated their intent to expand this language base to include both Latin and non Latin scripts.

Google says that the new version "features a larger database of recognized objects, improved user interface, and the ability to initiate visual searches using images in your phone's gallery".

This application is part of a new breed of applications that aims to use information from the real world adds it to web searches and creates a result specific to a user's location and need.

Google are hoping that this new application will be the first of its type to enter into mainstream use.